The Spanish gendarmerie dismantled an operation to transport significant quantities of cannabis resin via helicopter through low-altitude night flights between Morocco and Cadiz and Seville, French Radio France Internationale (RFI) said on Friday.
Police services, who were tracking the perpetrators, followed one of the aircraft leaving the Cadiz region in Andalusia, in the far south of Spain. It had been flying very low and without lights, heading towards Morocco.
Moroccan authorities detected the aircraft, which stayed for only “a few minutes” before returning to Cadiz. It was intercepted on a property in the town of Chiclana de la Frontera.
The police seized 30 bales containing a total of 795 kilograms of the substance and arrested five individuals.
One of the smugglers, considered one of the most important leaders of the network, died in a car accident while trying to escape at high speed.
Four other suspects were later apprehended in Utrera, near Seville.
Police services also seized a second helicopter used in narco-plane operations.
The rear seats of the two aircraft, purchased in Eastern European countries, had been removed to create space for transporting the cannabis resin.